Ace Bushy Striptease are one of my favourite bands in the world. When I first heard them, I mean, I hadn’t felt that way since Cats In Paris, and they’ve even like gotten actually better since. I once described them as ‘This Generation’s Beatles’ but I don’t think they’ve quite made it yet. I mean, for example, they haven’t sparked a wave of immitatory Ace Bushy Mania. And technically they’re two records in, although both records have been under half an hour and mostly released for free. This shows that in marketing terms Ace Bushy are well ahead of the curve- in the future, all music will be free and released largely to a dedicated audience of enthusiasts as opposed to involving marketing, paying for music, bothering people who run blogs with press crap they don’t care about etc etc (well over a year after I stopped blogging about music, I still get all this shit- please stop sending me stuff I don’t want, oh except the person who sent me all that Meho Plaza stuff recently, I liked that, and the guy from Art Sorority For Girls who told me my nice blog post pushed him towards finishing his record or I think it was that I got that e-mail when I was travelling round Europe so I’ve sort of forgotten but either way, I want stuff from you two still because you’re good but like, I don’t want to host your Florence and the Machine video, OK?). Continue Reading

All photographs by Sonny Malhotra

If there’s one thing London label Brainlove Records could never be accused of, it’s being predictable. The label’s annual one-day festival and bro-down, held at Brixton Windmill on May 30th and now in it’s third year, featured a prismatic cross-section of amazing bands. Be it a massive misandric all-girl choir shrieking murderously about visiting violent revenge on a cheating man, or Gameboy metal riffing dissolving into an acrobatic geek-hop breakdown, or a primal mass singalong harmony in the sun, there was a seemingly neverending stream of things going on all around the packed out Brixton Windmill.

The spirit of cooperation and creativity ran throughout the day, with some musicians playing in 3 or 4 different bands, and fed into the general buzz of excitement, with people rushing between indoor and outdoor stages to try and catch glimpses of everything. Overall, it felt like more than just an all-dayer – it felt like a celebration of everything the Brainlove label is about. It provided a great platform and an enthusiastic crowd for some very deserving acts. You might think 20 bands in one day would be too many, but with a genuine festival atmosphere like this, I only wish it had been longer. Maybe next year it will be two days and we can camp under the nearby windmill. Continue Reading

Ace Bushy Striptease are this generation’s Beatles.

I started saying that for LOLs on a music forum I post on but now I sincerely believe it and will maintain it to my dying day. Ace Bushy Striptease are four student type lads from Birmingham and one seemingly constantly rotating female singer who construct numerous ramshackle, somehow stylistically diverse guitar pop songs with wonderful titles like ‘Panda Love Unit’ (pre-Johnny Foreigner Alexei reference) and ‘Arrogance Is My Middle Name, Said Will Davis Arrogantly’. And ‘For A Star You Don’t Have Much Sparkle’. And ‘We Care For Each Other A Bit Still’. I’m not sure quite what it is that makes them this generation’s Beatles just yet, but its probably not entirely the songs. Its also the fanzines that they hand out at shows. And the fact, on a personal level, we clearly share the same musical ideology (their ‘cuddlecore’ is basically the Birmingham equivalent of my semi-imagined Manchester ‘tweexcore’). I put them on in a church in Salford and half expected them to tear up the place by accident, but actually they were surprisingly unflailing. This could be partly due to the fact their drummer is currently in India, though. But they’re still gigging, just with tapes and a drum machine or something, I don’t know. 

In short, Ace Bushy Striptease are the latest in a recently very consistent line of fantastic Birmingham-based guitar pop bands, flagshipped by Johnny Foreigner and Dystoph (and also with the likes of Sunset Cinema Club and Calories somewhere near behind). There’s something distinctly ‘un-proper’ about them as a band… the type of band that is just a bunch of mates who never practise and aren’t even quite sure what instrument they all play, but that’s just part of their magic. Part of me suspects that behind all the fanzines and cuddlecore, bassist Simon has the cold head for image of a veteran spin doctor or advertising executive. Although actually not. 

Realistically, I know in my heart of hearts that Ace Bushy Striptease aren’t *actually* this generation’s Beatles (that ‘dying day’ comment was, in hindsight, probably a bit hasty). But they might just be this generation’s Mekons. Give yrself up to their ramshackle magic. 

Ace Bushy Striptease on MySpace